Cultural Influences on Parenting

1
CHAPTER 3

• Cultural Influences on Parenting
• Pgs. 78-89, 110-123

2
What is Culture?

• Definition Culture is a set of values, beliefs,
  ways of thinking, rituals, and institutions of a
  group or population.p.80
• Culture provides
• The physical and social setting
• Psychological characteristics valued
• Recommended behavior
• Comparison of American and Italian mothers
  covered in class

3
How Cultural Values are Transmitted

• Socialization process by which individuals learn
  the skills necessary for group life.
• Children have active roles in this process
• Cultural schema shared meanings and feelings
  about
• Events
• People
• Ways to behave

4
How Cultural Values

• Children first learn about culture from family
• Then outside people
• Childs behavior signals acceptance or resistance
  to expectations of authority figure.

5
How Cultural Values

• Generational differences
• How does one generation help the next to
  socialize into a different culture?
• School system
• Knowledge of language is an important key

6
How Cultural Values

• Child Cultural Brokers
• Link between the parents culture and European
  American culture
• Usually based on childs knowledge of English
• Psychological effects
• Feelings of self-confidence
• Take on adult concerns

7
Major Cultural Influences

• Race
• Phenotypic differences that arise from genetic
  or biological dispositions p.84
• Ethnicity
• an idividuals membership in a group sharing a
  common ancestral heritage based on nationality,
  language, and culture. p. 84

8
Major Cultural

• Social Status
• Perhaps most powerful influence shaping
  parents child-rearing behavior. p.85
• Religion
• Provide ideas/values about many areas of life.

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Cultural Models of Parent-Child Relationships

• Two cultural models Table 3-1, p. 88
• Independent
• Goals as adult
• Self-sustaining productive adults
• Enter relationships with other adults by choice
• Promotes
• Autonomy
• Competence
• Freely chosen identity
• Followed by most European Americans

10
Cultural Models

• Interdependent
• Goals as adult
• Socially responsible in a strong social network
• Promotes
• Early indulgence followed by firm expectations
• Internalized respect for elders and traditions
• Importance of extended family and obligations
• Followed by
• Other ethnic groups
• Italian and Greek Americans
• Older European Americans

11
Commonalities Among Cultural Themes p. 110

• Study of behaviors of European, African, and
  Mexican American parents across educational and
  financial backgrounds
• Behaviors
• Parental support
• Avoidance of harsh punishment
• Associated with
• Good grades
• Psychological adjustment
• Rule-following behaviors
• For both genders from 5-18

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Commonalities Among Cultural Themes..

• In adolescence
• Parents acceptance and involvement related to
• Academic performance
• General feeling of well-being
• In all the above groups
• Nonabusive spanking in a warm family relationship
  IS NOT related to an increase in
• Childrens behavior problems
• Aggression over time from 4-11

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Influence of SES

• Socioeconomic Status
• Provides a developmental niche (place) that
  includes
• Physical and social settings
• Childrearing practices
• Psychological characteristics of the caregivers
• Depends on parents
• Occupation
• Education
• Level of income

14
Influence of SES

• Income BELOW poverty level affects parenting
• When income is ABOVE poverty level, the following
  have more influence on parenting beliefs than
  income
• Education
• Occupational status

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Influences of SES

• Higher SES more likely to have a child-centered
  view of parenting
• Differences in SES have more to due with whether
  there is verbal interaction with children than
  whether there is nonverbal interaction

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Influences of SES

• Higher status parents (professionals)
• Talk more to children
• Spoke 3 times as much
• Gave positive feedback more
• Gave prohibitions less
• Welfare parents twice as many negatives as
  positives
• Seek more speech from children
• Best predictors of vocabulary and intellectual
  competence are
• The emotional tone of feedback
• The diversity of the language heard

17
Influences of SES

• Features common to all social levels
• Table 3-5, p. 114
• Child-rearing approaches
• Table 3-6, p. 115
• Concerted Cultivation
• Middle class
• Accomplishment of Natural Growth
• Working class and poor families

18
Influences of Economic Hardship

• Income is below the poverty line
• Lack of resources to care for children can cause
• Stress in parents
• Less stimulating experiences for children
• Less effective parenting practices
• Dont communicate with children as openly
• Dont share power with children
• Problems with schoolwork
• Problems with childrens behavior

19
Influences of Economic

• With adolescents
• Financial strain more important than ethnic
  background and family structure in predicting
• Conflicts with children
• Decreasing grades

20
Influences of Economic

• Indirect influence
• Parenting declines because parents dont support
  each other
• Support from the other parent keeps parenting
  effectiveness

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Who are the Poor?

• 2000 poverty level
• 2 people 11,569
• 3 people 14,128
• 4 people (2 adults, 2 children) 18, 104
• Rates of poverty by ethnic group (2003)
• 34 African American
• 30 Latino
• 14 European American
• 12 Asian American
• In 2003, 18 of children under 18 were living in
  poverty

22
Who are the Poor?

• Family structure
• Children living in single parent homes are more
  likely to be poor
• About ½ of poor children live in 2 parent
  families
• Factors that increase poverty
• 1.Decrease in skilled jobs that support families
• 2.Increases in single-parent families
• 3.Reductions in government benefits to families

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Effects of Poverty on Childrens Development

• Birth outcome and physical health
• Low birth weight
• Infant mortality
• Growth stunting
• Lead poisoning
• Cognitive, Emotional, Behavioral Development
• Table 3-7, p. 118
• The poorer the child, the greater the delay

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The Effects of Poverty

• Cognitive, Emotional, Behavioral..
• Worst results
• Living in poverty 13 years or longer
• Lower scores on cognitive measures
• Living in poverty the first 5 years
• Lower High school graduation rates
• Poverty less related to emotional outcomes
• Most poor children
• Perform at grade level
• 80 graduate from High School
• Not more likely to have emotional problems

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Ways to Intervene

• 5 ways poverty effect development
• Table 3-8, p. 119
• 1.Health
• 2.Home environment
• Lack of stimulation in the home accounts for up
  to ½ of the effects of poverty on intellectual
  growth
• 3.Style of parenting
• 4.Parents mental health
• 5.Neighborhood characteristics

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Ways to Intervene

• Government helped has moved from AFDC to TANF
• Block grants to states
• Difficulties with new program
• 5 year limit on receiving TANF funds
• requirement to work
• Economic down-turn has caused more people to be
  poor
• Intervention strategies and results
• Pgs. 120-121